


The Secrets of Dr. Wu

by sabrina_11157



Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies), Jurassic Park Series - Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park: The Game (Telltale Video Game), Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: ...maybe, All Hell Breaks Loose, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambition, Attempted Murder, Awkward Tension, BAMF Kajal Dua, Bad Decisions, Basically everyone has issues for that matter, Canon-Typical Violence, Chaos, Chaos Theory, Character Death, Consequences, Descent into Madness, Dinosaurs, Dubious Ethics, Dubious Morality, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Numbness, Emotionally Repressed, Empathy, Enemies, Epic Fail, Ethical Dilemmas, Fame, For Science!, Gen, Genetic Engineering, Hatred, Henry Wu Being an Asshole, Henry Wu Has Issues, Henry Wu is a Mess, Heroes to Villains, Human Disaster Henry Wu, InGen | International Genetics Incorporated (Jurassic Park), Isla Nublar (Jurassic Park), Isla Nublar T-Rex, Isla Sorna (Jurassic Park), Major Character Injury, Mental Anguish, Mental Health Issues, Minor Character(s), Minor Claire Dearing/Owen Grady, Morality, Not All Of This Has Happened Yet, Not Canon Compliant, POV First Person, Police, Rare Characters, Redemption, Remorse, Rivalry, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Secrets, Slow Build, Some Humor, Tags May Change, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Velociraptors, Vic Hoskins Being an Asshole, Villains, Weapons, dilophosaurus - Freeform, innovation, knowledge is power, or lack thereof, ruthlessness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28992825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabrina_11157/pseuds/sabrina_11157
Summary: Follow everyone's (least) favorite geneticist throughout the Jurassic Park franchise, from his beginnings as a young, idealistic scientist working for John Hammond to the mastermind behind the Jurassic World disaster.Very character-centric. This book intends to give Henry Wu the good character arc he was deprived of in the movies."And that had made Wu's DNA purely empirical. It was a matter of tinkering, the way a modern workman might repair an antique grandfather clock. You were dealing with something out of the past, something constructed of ancient materials and following ancient rules. You couldn't be certain why it worked as it did; and it had been repaired and modified many times already, by the forces of evolution, over eons of time."-Michael Crichton, "Jurassic Park"
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 6





	1. Welcome to Jurassic Park

**Author's Note:**

> Another very important mention: This is NOT canon compliant. To clarify the summary, the point of this book is to give Dr. Wu the storyline he severely lacks in the film canon. You'll recognize quite a few elements from canon in here, mostly some rearranged comics, video games, and Jurassic World events & characters. There will also be a few original characters, but they won't play a huge part.  
> Again, I should mention that this book is going to be centered less around action scenes(though you'll get your fair share of those) and more around character development.
> 
> Many works of literature have inspired various elements in this book: the "Jurassic Park" series by Michael Crichton; "The Evolution of Claire" by Tess Sharpe; the "Reign of Chaos" trilogy by @Sassy_Lil_Scorpio(can be found on AO3 & ff.net); "Jurassic Park: The Chaos Continues" by @BuckJohnson(can be found on ff.net); and many more.
> 
> RATING: T or PG-13 for language, character death, and violence. 
> 
> DISCLAIMER: The characters and plot of the Jurassic Park franchise are the property of their respective owners. Opinions in the quotes at the top of each chapter are not necessarily my own; they just fit the plot of the chapter(s). 
> 
> DEDICATIONS:  
> The author of the stellar original book: Michael Crichton and his unparalleled literary genius. Rest in peace.  
> My fellow author and frustrated writer: My sister, who I am indebted to for her patience regarding my obsession with this franchise and willingness to read the original book.  
> My fellow fanfiction authors with equal obsession for Jurassic Park.  
> The producers and cast of the Jurassic Park/World movies: Steven Spielberg, John Willaims, Colin Trevorrow, Michael Giacchino, Sam Neill, Bob Peck, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Attenborough, Wayne Knight, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D'Onofrio, James Cromwell, and many more.  
> And last but not least: B.D. Wong, the incredible actor who played Dr. Henry Wu.

_"Science never solves a problem without creating ten more."_

_-George Bernard Shaw_

**Embryonics Administration, Site B (Isla Sorna), July 1986**

"Dr. Wu! Dr. Wu!”

From my seat by a microscope, I jumped a little in surprise as my assistant Dr. David Banks bolted into the room. “What is it, Banks?” I sighed. The kid was smart, but he was always interrupting important work.

“The eggs are hatching!” Banks said, breathing heavily from his dash down the corridors. 

I perked up immediately. This was it. The moment when all of my hard work would finally pay off. With any luck, we would finally be able to see the first dinosaurs to walk the planet in 65 million years. "Which species?" I demanded at once. 

Eyes gleaming with excitement, Banks said, “The velociraptors,” grinning like the small children the park was marketed towards.

My jaw dropped. “Well, what are you waiting for, man?! Let’s go!”

Banks and I bolted out of the room, snapping on protective gloves and shoving past other scientists and employees. We hurried into the hatchery, where John Hammond, Ray Arnold, Dennis Nedry, and Robert Muldoon were watching the trembling eggs with sharp eyes. John bounced a bit on his toes with a young boy’s delight, Ray and Nedry watched in silent shock and anticipation - even Nedry had no sarcastic comments - and Robert tilted his head slightly, staring with analytical, observant eyes. 

“Don’t forget your gloves, the eggs are permeable to skin oils,” Banks said, handing a pair to the other men. 

"Can I touch one?" Ray asked, reaching out with a shaky hand.

"Of course. Just be careful," I said. Ray poked the egg gently and jerked his hand back as if the baby inside had bitten him. I would have laughed at him if I didn't feel the exact same way. 

“Remind me again of the changes you made to the original prehistoric animal?” Robert said. “We’ll need to update the designs of the raptors’ holding pen accordingly.”

“Bigger, for one, as a result of some of the genes we had to splice in to successfully clone it. We think that they have improved reflexes and eyesight, stronger and more powerful leg muscles, maybe a few other side effects due to the DNA changes…” I said distractedly, examining the tiny crack on the surface of one of the eggs. Robert made an irritated sound in the back of his throat, but it was plain from the look John gave him that they had had this conversation before. As the park's game warden, his primary concern was with animals, particularly the dangerous carnivores.

"What's it going to look like?" Nedry asked me.

"We can't tell that for sure yet," I admitted. "Remember, these are the first dinosaurs we've ever cloned."

"Not that great of a mad scientist, then, are you?" Nedry sniped. Except for a quick glare, I ignored him.

“Won’t they need help getting out of the eggs? Missing egg tooth and all that?” Banks said, scratching a few notes on his clipboard.

“Yes, but not yet. We’ll just have to wait a few more minutes.”

"Egg tooth?" said Ray.

"It's a sharp little projection on the animal's snout that it uses to break through the shell," I explained. "We only know it's missing because we x-rayed the eggs."

We all waited with bated breath over the next fifteen minutes, as cracks appeared on the surfaces of two more of the five eggs and the cracks in the first widened and deepened. 

A piece of shell broke away. I reached out and pulled the large shard off of the egg, revealing the head of a baby velociraptor.

The little head, no longer than my pinky finger, poked out of the hole in the egg and squealed, revealing little stubs that would become razor-sharp teeth as it grew. It watched us all with intelligent, slit-pupiled yellow eyes reminiscent of a cat. 

_Too intelligent,_ some part of my mind thought, but it quickly faded away as the velociraptor shoved a tiny clawed hand through the eggshell, brushing away another part of the shell. It squealed and chirped as I carefully pulled a few stray shards of the shell off of its nose.

I couldn't believe it. I had done it. I was looking into the eyes of a goddamn _dinosaur._ An animal that had been extinct for millions of years, and I had brought it back. The feeble vocalizations of the live raptor were a testament to not only scientific power but my own hard work and genius. Beside me, John laughed with pure delight, Ray and Nedry mumbled "My God" with joy, and even Robert cracked a smile.

Banks looked like he was about to faint, but recovered quickly. “Blood temperature: approximately 91 degrees Fahrenheit or 33 Celsius…” he muttered to himself, rapidly scribbling away on his clipboard. He leaned over as I helped the raptor climb out of its eggshell and the animal’s feet touched the straw surrounding the eggs. “Height: eight inches or twenty centimeters. Length from head to tail: sixteen inches or twenty-eight centimeters.”

As Banks mumbled to himself, I watched as the little velociraptor bobbed slightly on her toes, examining the humans surrounding her with those alien yellow eyes. She opened her mouth and shrieked, the raspy sound more of a hungry predator than a newborn baby. 

The velociraptor bounced a little, directing her shrieks to me and demanding attention.

“She thinks you’re her dad or something,” Robert said, rolling his eyes. Meanwhile, John cooed and fussed over the raptor, who nipped at him in annoyance. “Wants food, I bet. Only two minutes out of the egg and your little cloned carnivore is already hungry.”

Ray and Nedry seemed to have forgotten about their animosity, exchanging comments about the baby dinosaur. "It's so small, so fragile," Ray whispered. "I can't believe you've done it, Henry."

"Pretty impressive lizard, Wu," Nedry admitted. I felt a swell of pride that all of them, including that bratty hacker, were so impressed with my work. 

I turned to the other two eggs that were hatching, helping Banks removed the pieces of eggshell from their striped skin and take measurements. Annoyed that her sisters were suddenly receiving all the attention, the first raptor leaped in front of my face and chittered angrily. 

Sighing, I turned to Robert. “Go get some dead mice,” he instructed. “The raptors will want food.”

Robert left the room, and John turned his attention to the fourth egg while Banks’ pencil flew across the paper at the speed of light. Ray and Nedry cautiously tried to pet the raptors, but they were having none of it and snapped at the two men.

The three newborn velociraptors seemed to be communicating amongst themselves, sniffing each other, and chirping tentatively. After a few minutes, they all started bouncing and shrieking at me and Banks, demanding food. When Robert returned with the mice, I took one of them and dangled it in front of the first velociraptor, who jumped into the air and snatched the mouse out of his hand, viciously tearing into it with her tiny claws.

* * *

**Site B (Isla Sorna), December 1989**

It was late, almost midnight. The light in Site B's control room was reduced to a couple of lamps, just enough to illuminate the sparsely furnished area. Ray was sitting at his desk, scribbling away at blueprints for the park on Isla Nublar.

"How's construction going, Ray?" I asked.

He sighed and took another long drag at his cigarette. Judging from the hazy cloud of smoke in the room, I suspected that he had gone through more than one pack today. "Not great. Every time I think I have a solution, you, John, or Robert come in with new information or requirements. Nothing against you, of course," he added quickly. "But designing an amusement park with real live dinosaurs is one hell of a job."

I nodded sympathetically. "If you need any ideas, just ask any of us. We'd all be happy to help. Well, maybe not Nedry," I smirked slightly. "He's more interested in his video games and chocolate bars."

We both laughed a little, even though it wasn't that funny. Probably a symptom of exhaustion. 

Suddenly, the door banged open and Robert stormed in, taking a swig from his flask of liquor. "Damn dinos!" he yelled. Ray and I jumped.

Stomping around the room, Robert ranted on and on about how much of a pain in the ass it was to transport the T. rex and how he wished he could chop Hammond up into hamburger-sized chunks and feed him to Rexy, punctuating each angry sentence with a swallow of alcohol. This lasted for a full ten minutes, with Ray and I looking on in nervous amusement.

Finally, Robert threw himself down into one of the chairs, breathing heavily after screaming a long string of profanities about John's ignorance regarding large carnivores.

"Bad day at work, I take it?" Ray asked. Robert didn't respond.

"It wasn't that great for us either. Ray keeps having to redo his blueprints and someone almost spilled a vial of poison on me," I said. "Last time I ever trust lab assistants to handle beta-alkaloids."

"Poison?" Ray's head whipped around.

"They're used to interrupt cellular mitosis at precise moments. Because of the complica-"

"Blah, blah, blah, science, DNA, who cares," Robert rolled his eyes. "No one understands you, Wu." He took another swallow from his flask.

"He's rather drunk, isn't he?" I observed. 

"No, I'm not," Robert growled.

"I don't see how he could be sober, assuming that he was drinking all the way here from Nublar," said Ray.

"Want to play chess while Robert drinks his woes away?" I asked. "Can't promise that he won't flip the board on one of his anti-raptor rampages, but it'll still be fun."

"Oh, don't get me started on those monstrosities," snarled Robert. "Worst idea you ever had, Wu, and that includes your little college ro-"

"That's enough!" I snapped, turning bright red. "You can be really whiny and immature sometimes, you know that?"

"You can really fail at common sense sometimes, you know that, idiot?"

"You're a drunk!"

"You're a wimp!"

"You're cynical!"

"You're short!"

"Now, now, enough catfighting," Ray said loudly, holding up his hands. "I haven't decided whether you two act more like siblings, teenage girls, or an old married couple."

Robert and I rounded on him, but before we could kill the chief engineer, he laughed out loud and pushed his wheelie chair away from us. "It was a joke, you two. Just because I'm a middle-aged man doesn't mean I can't mess around with you once in a while."

"You're forgiven your lame joke if I get to destroy you in chess," I told him.

"Fine," Ray sighed. "If it'll keep you two from getting into one of your spats while Robert is drunk and more prone to violence."

(Robert and I friend-fought like it was an award-winning sport, mostly because we strongly disagreed on what should be done with the raptors. Nevertheless, we were good friends and would never dream of purposely hurting the other.)

"Great. I'll go get the chessboard."

* * *

As usual, the humidity of Isla Sorna was stifling. A hot breeze blew through the island, making me miss the air-conditioned lab. I made my way down to the workers' village, a rambling collection of small bungalows and cramped barracks that desperately needed Ray's designing and organizing expertise. My bungalow was in between Robert's home and an unused maintenance shed surrounded by a broken chain-link fence. Ray had mentioned to me that John was more focused on the building of the actual theme park instead of maintaining the facilities on Site B.

I unlocked the door to my bungalow with my security card and dug through one of my many still-unpacked boxes. You didn't have much time for interior decorating when you were cloning dinosaurs for the impatient John Hammond. The chessboard was buried under a Stanford sweatshirt and a copy of _The Andromeda Strain_. 

Chess had always been one of my favorite games, at least ever since I had found the patience for it. I loved the strategy and creativity required to win a game, and it helped me wind down after a long, tiring day. Ray was awful at chess and only agreed to play the game with me because he knew it lowered my stress level. He joked that it also boosted my self-esteem because I always won. 

I left my bungalow, carrying the chessboard under my arm. As I started the short trek back to the main building, I noticed that a light was on in the maintenance shed. What would anyone be doing in there, especially this late at night?

The door was open a crack, and I peeked through. Nedry was in there, talking in a low voice with someone on the phone. I could only make out a few words and phrases.

"...his precious embryos...all in the eggs...low survival rate..."

There was a pause as the person on the other end of the line responded. Nedry sighed in exasperation.

"...can't get anywhere near it...near impossible...ridiculously high security...guards...Hammond...lizards."

Another pause.

"...don't understand...get caught...months, at the very least...don't talk to me like that...make a good plan...just you wait..."

Eager to hear more, I took a small step closer. My foot landed on dead plant matter, making a loud crunching sound. Nedry and I both froze. He mumbled something into the phone and hung up. "Who's there?" he demanded.

Quickly gathering myself, I pushed the door open. "Oh, Dennis, it's just you. I saw a light on in here and wondered who it was at this hour," I smiled.

Nedry looked suspicious, but he had no choice but to accept my explanation. "John wanted me to make sure the phone lines were all working, and you know how pissed he gets if I miss even one thing. Even if it's a phone that nobody uses."

"Well, have a good night then," I said, backing out of the dirty shed, not breaking eye contact with Nedry. Both of us knew that the other was lying, but neither of us was gutsy enough to call each other out.

* * *

I went back to the control room and began my chess game with Ray, trying to figure out what exactly had been going on with Nedry. Robert had stumbled off to yell at Hammond about safer transportation equipment.

 _Break it down, Henry_ , I told myself as I captured Ray's knight. He cursed and lit another cigarette. _Look at it one step at a time._

Nedry hadn't wanted any eavesdroppers; that much was obvious. He had been talking quietly on a phone that nobody used at a time when most people would be asleep. He wanted to keep that conversation a secret.

Said conversation involved unhatched dinosaurs, from the snippets that I could remember. There was also something about security, I was pretty sure. So was Nedry talking about the park's operations?

I racked my brain for more memories of the conversation. Unfortunately, that thinking distracted me from the game, and Ray took my queen. He laughed, and I swore in a very uncharacteristic manner. 

Then he had mentioned something about taking a long time. If he was talking about the park's operations, did that mean he was referring to the park's opening? That was certainly a ways off. Nedry had also said something involving making a plan...that worried me. 

The game wore on, and I turned my focus back to it, too prideful to let Ray win. I barely managed to beat him due to my mind being occupied by other matters most of the time. When I finally went to bed around one a.m., I was too tired to think any more about Nedry's cryptic phone call.

* * *

I wasn't given any more time to ponder Nedry, due to a tragic incident the very next morning. I would regret that oversight for the rest of my life.

While transporting the first raptor to the enclosure on Isla Nublar, two workers had been killed. Robert was saddened and angry; John had refused to give him equipment beyond metal rods to poke and prod the carnivore, which just made it angry. Robert spent the next few days sitting outside and staring into the distance, never speaking to anyone.

I was quite protective of my creations, but not at the expense of human life. So I convinced John to allow Robert to use taser rods on the raptors. It might not be enough, but it was still better than the shoddy sticks he was using previously.

When I thought back on it, the warning signs of the dangers were there, and only Robert had seen them. Hammond had petted a baby raptor one too many times, and the dinosaur had furiously chomped down on his forearm, putting him in a bandage and on antibiotics in case of infection. Some might call the little raptors cute, but now I knew better. They were predators; all they lived for was the thrill of the hunt and kill. Not only did they appear to vocalize and coordinate attacks(Robert was constantly worried about this), but they could jump like kangaroos and hide from the scientists entering the enclosure. 

I had been jumped by one of the raptors once, and he was lucky it was still too small to do any real damage beyond a scrape. Banks had encouraged this behavior, deeming it “adorable,” and receiving a long, angry lecture from both me and Robert. The game warden was a bit paranoid, but he was entirely right that the raptors would become highly dangerous once fully grown, and that necessitated caution from all employees.

"Those raptors will be the death of me," he muttered once, after taking an injured scientist to the medical bay with a shredded hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Ray Arnold's name is technically John Raymond Arnold, but as he's been working with Henry for a while, and they're friends, it makes sense that Henry would refer to him both mentally and verbally by his nickname.


	2. Incident at Isla Nublar

_MAYHEM (noun): violent or damaging disorder; chaos_

**Isla Nublar, June 1993**

Ian Malcolm rubbed me the wrong way immediately, from the moment I met him while watching a batch of raptor eggs hatch.

"It's turning the eggs," Ellie Sattler whispered in wonderment, gesturing to the mechanical arm caring for the raptor eggs. Alan Grant, his jaw half-open, hurried closer as one egg shivered.

"Oh, perfect timing," I grinned. "I'd hoped they'd hatch before I had to go to the boat."

"Henry, Henry, Henry, why didn't you tell me? I insist on being here when they're born," John said, shoving me aside to get a closer look as he pulled on a pair of plastic gloves. "Come on...come on, little one!" he giggled as a crack appeared on the egg's surface. "Come on then, push! Push!"

Well accustomed to the sight, I watched in amusement as Sattler gasped, "Oh my God!" The velociraptor's head peeped out, aided by John.

"They imprint on the first creature they come in contact with. Helps them to trust me," John explained as the baby raptor shrieked, struggling in the confines of its shell. "I've been present for the birth of every little creature on this island!"

 _So have I,_ I wanted to mutter in irritation. (John didn't exactly have a habit of employee appreciation.)

"Surely not the ones that have bred in the wild?" Malcolm questioned as Grant and Sattler reached out tentatively to the newborn reptile.

"Actually, they can't breed in the wild," I informed him. "Population control is one of our security precautions. There's no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park."

Malcolm still looked skeptical. "How do you know they can't breed?"

"Well, because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female. We've engineered them that way."

"Blood temperature seems like, uh, high 80s?" Grant asked.

John turned to me. "Wu?"

"Ninety-one."

"Homeothermic? It holds that temperature?" Sattler asked. I nodded in response. "That's incredible," she gasped.

As I handed some tissues to John so that he could clean off the raptor, Malcolm said, "But again, how do you know they're all female? Does somebody go out into the park and pull up the dinosaurs' skirts?"

The mathematician was already getting on my nerves. Folding my arms, I said in a slightly cooler tone, "We control their chromosomes. It's really not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway; they just require an extra hormone given at the right developmental stage to make them male. We simply deny them that."

"Deny them that?" Sattler frowned, as Malcolm started one of his speeches, this time directed to John. "John, the kind of control you're attempting here, it's not possible. If there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, well...there it is."

John nodded, repeating "There it is," as Gennaro cast Malcolm a look.

I raised an eyebrow. "You're implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will _breed_?"

Malcolm waved me away. "No, I'm simply saying that life, uh, finds a way."

Grant, who had picked up the shrieking velociraptor, lifted his head. "What species is this?"

"It's a velociraptor."

"You bred raptors?" Grant whispered with a look of horror in his eyes, and I slowly nodded.

* * *

"Where's Ray?" I asked. The captain of the boat gave me a confused look.

"Ray?"

"Ray Arnold. The chief engineer of the park. I've looked for him everywhere; he's not here." I tried to hold back my worry and irritation while speaking to the captain. "I need to go back and find him. He and the others could get hurt in the storm."

"Sorry, doctor." The captain shook his head. "We have to leave in five minutes. I can't let you get off the boat."

I brushed past him and picked up a radio. Fiddling with the controls, I radioed in to the control room. "Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me? Over."

There was a brief crackle of static. "Henry? Is that you? Over."

I sighed in relief. "Yes, Ray, it's me. Why aren't you on the boat with me and Banks?! You're right in the path of the storm! Over."

"Don't worry, buddy, we're fine. Robert, John, Nedry and I are all here. Safe and sound; we should be okay. John wanted us here to keep the park running. I'll call you when the storm passes over. See you in a few days. Over."

Grumbling to myself, I set the radio down and made my way back to my small room on the ship. _If Ray doesn't sound too concerned, there's probably nothing to worry about,_ I tried to convince myself. Ray had always been a worrier; that's just how he was. Though his paranoia over the park's security systems bothered Hammond, he had always acted as not only a friend and confidante but a check on some of my crazier cloning ideas. He was also the only person on the island capable of calming Robert down when he got overly worked up over the velociraptors. _We wouldn't get anything done around here without Ray Arnold_ , I thought with a fond smile.

* * *

**San José, Costa Rica, June 1993**

I blinked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. _What time is it?_ I remembered the long boat ride to some little town on Costa Rica's west coast, getting a taxi to take me to San José, finding a nice hotel room...so it was probably late afternoon or evening; I had checked in to the hotel sometime around nine a.m. and fallen asleep immediately. A glance at the clock confirmed that it was 4:12 p.m.

From my hotel room in Costa Rica, I turned on the TV and flipped channels until I landed on the weather channel. " _...la tormenta en la costa del archipiélago de Muertes terminó a la medianoche de esta mañana. Las islas sufrieron muy poco daño. En otras noticias..._ " the announcer droned on.

 _Good_ , I thought. The storm had ended, and it hadn't done anything too bad to Isla Nublar. That meant that a) my genetics lab was safe, and b) Ray, Robert, and the others would be fine. I picked up the hotel room's phone and dialed Isla Nublar's main phone number.

The line rang and rang, but nobody picked it up. Frowning, I dialed again. No answer.

I sighed in frustration. What the hell was going on? I decided to go down to the front desk; they could probably fix whatever was going on with the phone.

The receptionist smiled. " _Hola, señor. ¿Puedo ayudarte?_ "

" _Hola, señora._ I'm having trouble with my phone."

"What is the issue, _señor_?"

"I'm trying to call someone on Isla Nublar, but nobody's answering. I think there's a problem with the connection."

"Isla Nublar? Then it's probably just a power outage from the storm," she said in a reassuring tone.

"I thought that there was almost no damage done to the island. That's what the weather channel said."

Shrugging, the receptionist said, "The storms can hit the Muertes archipelago very hard, _señor_. Considering what they have done in the past, a temporary loss of power is not a very big deal. Try calling again later tonight," she advised. "Is there anything else you need?"

" _No, señora. Gracias por tu ayuda,_ " I said in a vaguely defeated voice. " _Tenga un buen día._ "

" _Usted también, señor._ "

* * *

Night had fallen on San José, and there was still no news from Isla Nublar. I had called several times since I spoke with the receptionist, but no one had answered the phone. An employee had come by a few times asking if I wanted dinner, but anxiety had made me lose my appetite.

A nagging voice in the back of my mind whispered that something was very wrong. I mentally told it to shut up.

There was a sharp knock on the door. I opened it to find a gruff-looking policeman standing there. _What?_

"Are you Dr. Henry Wu?" he asked.

"Yes..." I said cautiously. Had I done something to get in trouble with the authorities? "What do you need?"

"Urgent business with InGen, Dr. Wu." It wasn't a very helpful explanation. "I need you to come with me. Bring your personal belongings."

"Will you tell me what's going on?" I snapped, grabbing my lab coat from where it had been dumped on a chair the night before and stuffing it into my suitcase.

"There's been an accident on Isla Nublar. That's all I know, doctor. Let's go."

The policeman led me out of the hotel, down to a waiting car. He opened the door and I climbed in carefully.

The ride through the dark streets of San José was silent. I clutched my suitcase to my chest and tried to guess what had happened. The policeman had told me there was an "accident"...it probably had something to do with the storm...but both the news and the receptionist had told me that there was a power outage.

I barely held back a gasp as a horrifying possibility occurred to me. Loss of power, for twelve hours at least...oh God. Something could have happened to the dinosaur embryos! They needed to be kept chilled at all times. I had been bugging John for months to install permanent geothermal power on Nublar as well as Sorna, but it was both expensive and difficult. There was a backup generator, but if it wasn't turned on in time, we would lose months of work and millions of dollars. 

Tapping my fingers on the suitcase anxiously, I noticed that we were pulling onto the runway of an airport. _An airport?_ An ambulance with wailing sirens was waiting, along with two simple black cars. Why on earth would anyone need an ambulance? I saw a Costa Rican man in a suit step out from one of the two other cars. He rushed forward to the ambulance, speaking with one of the paramedics. 

A helicopter emblazoned with the InGen logo descended from the sky, touching down on an unoccupied part of the runway.

I bolted out of the car, not waiting for the policeman. The helicopter's blades whirred to a stop, and the doors opened. Four people stepped out, and the paramedics jumped into the helicopter to help the two others. I squinted to try and make out their faces as I hurried towards them.

There was John, limping on his cane. His two grandchildren were there, being carried by the paleontologist Grant. The paramedicscame out, helping Ellie Sattler carry that damn mathematician Malcolm on a stretcher. (In between my worry, I felt a surge of vindictive joy that Malcolm was injured enough to require an ambulance.)

"What the HELL is going on here?!" I demanded. They all shifted uncomfortably, focusing their attention on either their shoes or the paramedics rushing forward to take a feverish Malcolm to the ambulance.

My throat closed up in terror as I realized that Ray, Robert, Gennaro, and Nedry were absent from the group.

"Where's Ray?" I asked frantically. "And Robert? John, _why aren't they here?_ "

"Henry," John began in a quiet tone. "There's been an incident at Jurassic Park. We've suffered a lot of damage-"

Grant scoffed loudly, interrupting him. "Don't you try and sugarcoat this, John. If you won't say it, I will."

"Say what?" I turned to him.

Sadness joined the anger in Grant's eyes as he said, "Nedry turned on you, Henry. He shut off the power during the storm to steal dinosaur embryos and sell them to BioSyn."

"WHAT?!" I screamed. 

Then it hit me. The phone conversation from a couple of years ago. The one I had been meaning to talk to John about, but had eventually forgotten...

"When he shut off security to escape, he accidentally released the dinosaurs. All of them, including the rex and the raptors."

Feeling nauseous and dizzy, I reached out for something to steady myself, but there was nothing there.

"A dilophosaur killed Nedry," Grant continued.

"Good riddance to that despicable traitor," I spat. John gave me a horrified look.

"...And the rex ate Gennaro."

The blood drained from my face. "Oh no." I had never liked that cowardly lawyer, but he certainly didn't deserve to become the tyrannosaurus rex's dinner. "Are Ray and Robert at the park cleaning things up?"

There was a long, agonizing silence.

"They were eaten alive by the raptors while trying to turn the power back on," Sattler said quietly in a choked voice.

_No._

_Impossible._

"Y-you're lying," I finally managed to say, my voice hoarse and croaky. "They're FINE! They're alive! TELL ME THE TRUTH!"

"I am, Dr. Wu."

" _No,_ " I whispered. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. "Oh my God, no, no, _no!_ "

"Henry, please try to calm down-" John said, reaching out to touch my arm.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!" I screamed, swiping his hand away. "ALL OF YOU, LEAVE ME ALONE! WHAT DID YOU DO TO SAVE THEM, HUH?! DID ANY OF YOU GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THEM?! THEY WERE MY _FRIENDS!_ " My voice cracked on the last word, and I held back a sob.

"Take him back to the hotel; I'll talk to him in the morning," John said to the policeman.

"I'm afraid that I can't do that, _señor_ Hammond. The government will need to take statements from all of you on the disaster."

"What?" Grant said.

The policeman nodded. "You'll be taken to a hotel for the night, and in the morning you will need to speak with some government officials."

"Why?" John demanded.

"I am not sure, _señor_. I believe it is because of the severity of the incident on your island."

I understood perfectly well why the government would want us detained somewhere in the capital. The plain fact was that the Costa Rican government had leased an island to an American entrepreneur whose park on that island had killed people and let highly dangerous animals wreak all manner of havoc on the place. It was a miracle that an ecological disaster had been averted. The government probably felt tricked by InGen. Everybody was under nasty circumstances, and they felt no hurry to release the people who had witnessed, and in my case, been partially responsible for the tragic disaster. 

As if they had been summoned, two men from the other cars approached us.

" _Gracias por traer al Dr. Wu aquí, oficial Suárez. Nos encargaremos de todo ahora,_ " the first one said. 'Thank you for bringing Dr. Wu here, Officer Suárez. We will take care of everything now.'

The policeman nodded, getting into his car and driving away. 

"Please follow us," the official said. "You must all be very tired, so we'll wait to speak with you until tomorrow morning at the hotel."

"What about Malcolm?" Sattler asked.

"He'll be taken care of at the hospital. We've allowed your veterinarian to stay with him," the man assured her. 

I cautiously followed the two officials back to their cars. One of them opened the car door for me. I got in and moved over to make room for Grant and the kids. 

"Wait, I want to ride with my grandchildren," Hammond protested as he was led to the other car.

"You'll see them at the hotel, _señor_ Hammond."

The cars pulled away from the airport.

* * *

The drive to the hotel was long and silent, as I sat in the back seat shaking and staring at my suitcase, trying to come to terms with the news I had just received.

_Ray and Robert are GONE. Dead. I'll never see them again...The dinosaur embryos...Nedry...I wish had told someone about that conversation he had...all that work, down the drain...There'll be lawsuits, I bet, not that I can blame anyone...god, what's going to happen to me? To InGen?_

Grant and I didn't attempt to speak to each other, and the kids were asleep. It occurred to me that the paleontologist probably blamed me for all the deaths. I remembered the look on his face when he realized that I had bred raptors, and I realized that he would probably hate me no matter how safe the park was.

When we finally arrived, I stumbled out of the car, holding my suitcase in a death grip. The official gave me a pitying look as he escorted me to a room.

"I'm sorry about your friends, doctor," the policeman said, taking my arm and pulling me back towards the car.

"I don't need your goddamn pity," I hissed, yanking my arm away and storming into my room, slamming the door.

As soon as I had some privacy, my remaining composure fell away, and I collapsed on my bed and cried myself to sleep.

* * *

"I've told you people a thousand times, I have no idea what happened on Nublar besides what I've been told. _I wasn't there._ "

God, this was getting tiring. For the past three days, a good chunk of my time had been spent telling the same story to various government officials in various boring federal offices: How I met John and got hired, what kind of work I did on the islands, what I knew about the plans for the park, what my involvement had been in the construction of the theme park, every detail of what had happened on the fateful day when everything went wrong. They probably thought I was hiding something nefarious: InGen's evil motives, John's plans to take over the country with weaponized dinosaurs, or some other ridiculousness that never existed.

"Very well, Dr. Wu. If you insist," the courteous official said, probably displeased that I hadn't revealed any embezzlement schemes.

"Am I allowed to leave now?" I asked.

"Yes. You can call a taxi to take you back to your hotel."

"Am I allowed to take walks around the city?" Being cooped up in a small hotel room with nothing to do with getting very boring, very fast.

The woman considered it. "Maybe. I'll speak to someone about it. It depends on whether or not you're a flight risk," she said with a pointed look. They didn't want me going back to America for fairly obvious reasons: I was the man who had created the very dinosaurs they were so interested in getting rid of. They weren't taking any chances with me.

* * *

I thanked the Costa Rican official and got a ride back to the hotel. I needed to clear my head a little, so I took a short walk around the hotel grounds. To my dismay, I ran into Alan Grant by the pool.

I made an attempt at slinking away quietly, but it was too late; Grant saw me.

"Dr. Wu," he said cordially and respectfully, though his expression made it clear that he felt anything but.

"Dr. Grant," I said, feeling very awkward and embarrassed. "How have you been?"

"As well as can be expected. I've had to take care of Tim and Lex since they aren't allowed to leave yet. They've been having nightmares constantly." Accusation entered his voice.

I didn't know what the appropriate response was to that. "We've all been having nightmares."

"Even you?" he said skeptically.

"Yes, even me."

"You weren't there when the dinosaurs escaped," Grant said coldly. "You were safe and sound on a ship going back to the mainland while your precious raptors tore up both the buildings and the people."

I flinched at that. "I never intended for the dinosaurs to escape, and I wasn't responsible for hiring that traitor."

Grant glared back at me. "Either way, it's still your lack of common sense that traumatized children and killed people." The next sentence was left unsaid, but I knew what it was: _You have no right to have nightmares and be pitied for it._

"In case it slipped your mind," I snapped back, "It was _my_ two best friends who were eaten alive by raptors! If I could've been there to help them and stop Nedry, I would!"

Grant's glare remained in place as he folded his arms across his chest. "I doubt your guilt can possibly be any worse than dreaming about the T. rex chomping up a helpless Tim and Lex to wash down Gennaro before returning to finish off Ian Malcolm."

"Is that so? I'd say that dreaming about your best friends being slowly eaten alive by a pack of velociraptors while your feet are somehow rooted to the ground is worse. And then, the second those animals finish off Ray and Robert, they turn towards you, and you can't run, you can't escape, and-" I cut myself off, embarrassed that I had admitted so much of my bad dreams. Taking a deep breath, I whirled around and stomped off before Grant could respond.

* * *

A few hours later, I got a call from some official telling me that I was allowed to wander around San José as long as the hotel staff knew where I was at all times.

I was sitting on a bench in the beautiful, wide-open Parque La Sabana. The park was gorgeous at sunset, as were most places in Costa Rica.

As I watched the sun go down over the park, my mind wandered to Robert. His favorite time of day was sunset when quartz lights lit up the park. He had once dragged me out from the lab to watch it, and I had to admit that it was an amazing sight.

God, how I wished Robert was sitting next to me, complaining about the raptors and John's ignorance and Ray's smoking habit and Nedry's sarcastic comments. I would give anything to hear Robert and Ray bitching about the security systems and to smell Marlboro cigarettes again.

Sitting silently in Parque La Sabana gave me some time to reflect on my role in the disaster. Had it been my fault? I was the one who created the dinosaurs, but Hammond was the one who hired me to do it, and Nedry was the one who sold out to BioSyn and shut off the power. I decided that it was their foolishness that was to blame for Ray and Robert's deaths.

The question remained, though...what was I going to do now? My life's work was in serious jeopardy. So was I to try and salvage it, or leave everything Jurassic Park and InGen-related behind? 

Leaving the field of genetics was not an option. It was my life's calling. Science was what I truly loved. When I worked for Hammond, I felt like I was doing work that was more important than me or any company.

And what would happen if I stayed with InGen? There would always be a risk. There would always be mistakes. 

But I was confident that I had learned from those mistakes. I had an opportunity to improve, to grow. Who was I to throw away that opportunity, and the chance to make my mark along with it? Maybe by continuing my work I could do some good that will outweigh the mistakes of Jurassic Park. 

And right then, as I looked into the golden sunset over Costa Rica, I made my decision.

I would stay. I would keep up my work in genetic engineering. If I was going to create a legacy, if I was going to innovate, if I was going to learn from my mistakes, the only way to do that was to move forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (DISCLAIMER: SOME DIALOGUE AT THE BEGINNING IS LIFTED FROM JURASSIC PARK.)
> 
> Spanish translations:
> 
> "...the storm on the coast of the Muertes archipelago ended at midnight this morning. The islands suffered very little damage. In other news..."
> 
> "Hello, sir. Can I help you?"
> 
> "Hello, ma'am."
> 
> "No, ma'am. Thank you for your help. Have a nice day."
> 
> "You too, sir."
> 
> For those of you wondering why Henry Wu suddenly understands and speaks a little Spanish: He's been living and working for several years on an island where 90% of the personnel are Costa Rican. It only stands to reason that he would know some Spanish.


	3. Hammond's Plan

_"Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity - not a threat."_

_-Steve Jobs_

**InGen Headquarters, Palo Alto, California, United States, July 1993**

It had been just two weeks since the Costa Rican government had finally released me. They had absolved me of responsibility because a) it was concluded that I was simply following John's orders while cloning the dinosaurs, b) I could not have predicted that Dennis Nedry would turn on the company, and c) some InGen executives had made a few backdoor deals to get me out. (Okay, that last part I couldn't actually prove, but it was more than likely.)

Right now, John had asked me to meet him to discuss what he cryptically referred to as an "urgent matter." I had been invited to his penthouse at InGen's headquarters to speak with him. And speaking of urgent matters, I had an issue to discuss with _him_.

I rubbed my eyes in the bathroom mirror. They were puffy and red from crying myself to sleep for the twenty-third night in a row, not to mention, I still felt weak and shaky. Losing your two best friends will do that to you.

I turned on the tap and splashed some cold water onto my face. After running a comb through my hair in an attempt to look presentable, I flipped open my suitcase to find a change of clothes.

My eyes immediately landed on my fancy watch. It had been a birthday gift from Robert last year.

 _Now you won't have an excuse for being late to meetings,_ he'd said with a chuckle. " _Wrapped up in your work," my arse._

I fought back the wave of tears that threatened to spill out, and clipped the watch around my wrist. I threw on a black turtleneck and a pair of dress pants, smoothed out the wrinkles, and took another look in the mirror.

Much better. Now I didn't look like an unemployed junkie. The least I could do for Ray and Robert was to make an effort at composure. I called a cab and grabbed a copy of yesterday's _Los Angeles Times_ , folding it up and stuffing it into my jacket.

John Hammond lived in a mansion-like penthouse at InGen's official HQ building. His top employees also had living quarters there - except for me. I was denied an apartment at HQ, so instead, I had to buy one of my own several blocks away. Southern California rent was quickly sucking up my money.

To be frank, I was surprised that John had still managed to hang on to the large HQ buildings. Both the American and Costa Rican governments had shut down practically all of InGen's operations, cutting off most of their revenue and profit. John's money was now their only source of income, and it was being rapidly drained due to hush money and lawsuits. Though John had more than enough money to spare and a few personal lucrative investments besides, I doubted that his waterfall of cash would be enough to protect InGen...which wasn't good for me.

As the taxi pulled up in front of the enormous complex, I saw that I had been partially correct - dozens of workmen were carrying furniture, files, and other miscellaneous belongings out into a series of moving trucks. I had only been to the HQ complex once in my life, but I recognized the building as the one that held the top executives' apartments, plus the main research lab. I suspected that the building was being sold off because ninety percent of it was useless to the company. 

I paid the driver and walked into the building, dodging couches and desks and wincing at the careless way that perfectly good lab equipment was treated as it was moved. I had to resist the urge to snap at them for being so clumsy with expensive and delicate machinery.

As soon as I knocked on the heavy wooden door of John's penthouse, he called, "Come in!"

When I pushed open the door, I was struck by how empty and desolate the place was. Practically everything inside had been removed, save for two chairs, one of which held John, his trademark amber cane, and a small plate of shortbread cookies. 

John greeted me with an infuriatingly serene smile. "Hello, Henry. Thank you for coming to see me; I know you're very upset with the loss of your dear friends. I'm sure it was very difficult for you-"

I flushed bright red at the reminder of my humiliating loss of control upon hearing the unexpected news of the incident. "How many lawsuits?" I interrupted him.

"Pardon?"

"Lawsuits, John. The families of the dead and injured people must want some kind of retribution."

"John told me that Donald's wife is filing a lawsuit against InGen," he said with a dramatic sigh. "Same with Robert's sister and Ray's wife and family. And that lawsuit over the worker killed by a raptor - Jophery, I think - is still in the works."

"Unsurprising."

"Unfortunate, isn't it?" John murmured, nibbling on a cookie. "We're losing enough money anyway what with the investors pulling out and the legal action against us...and now I have to deal with all these pesky lawsuits. Quite frustrating."

My jaw dropped. "You're not concerned about the _dead people and their families_ , John?! You can't just ignore the losses of your trusted employees - whose funerals I attended a week ago, by the way - and what's going to happen to their families!"

"I didn't mean it like that-" John began hastily, but I cut him off.

"I know that you care about saving your company; so do I. But you can't simply treat the lawsuits as a thorn in your side and nothing more. We've both made mistakes regarding Jurassic Park, and now we have to learn from them and own up to the consequences! Bribery and playing if-I-ignore-my-problems-they'll-just-go-away isn't an option!"

John waved an uninterested, condescending hand at me, a gesture I had both seen and been the victim of countless times. "Henry, you're being entirely-"

A wave of fury rose in me, and all the anger and resentment I felt with John came rushing to the surface. "NO, John! You're going to sit right there with your shortbread and listen to _every single word_ I have to say!! Face it: Jurassic Park is _done_ , at least for a good long while. The lysine contingency will have kicked in by now, and all of my hard work will have been for nothing. Dinosaurs have returned to being extinct. There's no possible way that this project will be salvaged in your lifetime, and you need to accept that. InGen has made mistakes, mistakes that led to multiple unnecessary deaths! We deserve to be sued for it. I want to continue my research in genetic engineering as much as you do, but as of now, the important thing is ensuring the survival of International Genetics, not where you're going to build the next park now that you're forbidden from stepping foot in Costa Rica again! Do you understand me?!"

I was just as shocked with my outburst as John was. We stood in silence for a few moments, surrounded by the emptiness of his apartment. Finally, John spoke. 

"Henry, it's not as if I'm blind to the downswing of InGen. I'm afraid that my company is going downhill fast. I have to admit that you're right: the incident with Jurassic Park has shut down my dinosaur project completely. I'm worried about the future of my finances. Please understand that I deeply regret what happened to Ray and Robert. I should have been more considerate of the families' needs," he admitted.

"Well, it's good to know something I said got through to you," I sighed. That was probably the best I would get out of John for the time being. "Now, there's just one more thing I wanted to discuss with you."

I pulled out the newspaper and showed the headline to him: _MORE DETAILS OF DENNIS NEDRY'S TREACHERY REVEALED - Exclusive!_

"Oh, that," John sighed. "Don't fret, Henry; no sensitive information about de-extinction was released."

"That's not what I'm upset about."

"Are you worried about legal consequences?" John raised an eyebrow. "That's been taken care of; you won't face any repercussions for your role in Jurassic Park..." he saw the look on my face. "That's not it, either?"

My fingers dug painfully into the paper. "I'm upset because everybody knows who he is."

"...Do you mind clarifying that, Henry?"

"How come the traitor responsible for releasing Rexy and the raptors gets all this postmortem fame and attention?" I fumed. "He humiliated InGen. He sold you out, to _Lewis Dodgson_ of all people, and even in death, he's a celebrity among the not just conspiracy theorists, but everyone who reads the morning paper. I've been working hard for you for years, and yet only a handful of people know my name! Just when Jurassic Park was about to be revealed to the world, it was taken away by that fat imbecile. Yet he's the famous one! When is it _my_ turn?!"

"You have a valid complaint, Henry, but what do you want me to do about it?" John asked.

I leaned forward, closer to the old man. "I want to continue my research. I want to keep working on genetic engineering. I want my name published in scientific journals and lauded among the great innovators and researchers. Jurassic Park may go down in history as a failure, but _I_ won't. You're the person who can give all that to me, John, which is why I'm standing here talking to you."

"As you have so vehemently pointed out, Henry, I have very little money to spare. How am I supposed to help you in that way?"

"Easy," I grinned. "When my professor at Stanford, Norman Atherton, died, he left me quite a bit of money to be used on research. I never had cause to use it, with your generous support for the de-extinction of dinosaurs, but it's in my bank account and it'll keep my work afloat until InGen is back on its feet."

John considered this for a moment. "Very well, Henry, I have a deal to propose. I will allow you housing in my home in San Diego and access to my personal laboratory-"

"You have a lab in your mansion?"

John ignored my interruption and continued. "I'll give you enormous freedom with your work. You can buy whatever supplies you need with your funds, and you can try and talk universities and investors out of their money if you need to. Work on whatever project you see fit."

"Can I hire my own staff?" This issue was very important to me, now that John had proven his judgment to be lacking with Nedry.

John nodded. "But paying them will be your problem. I'll provide you with money when I can, but don't expect very much."

This was all sounding very good, but I needed to find out if there was a catch. "And what's my end of the deal?"

"Any and all work you do will be InGen's." He saw the look on my face and quickly clarified. "You'll be credited as the creator, of course, but what you create will be my company's to use as we see fit. You work for _me_."

I thought about it. Control over my projects was very important to me. "Will I get a say in what's done with my research?"

"Of course." 

I took a moment to think through the deal. I would be guaranteed a future at InGen and freedom to do whatever I wanted, in exchange for sharing ownership of my projects with them. I really did want to stay here, and this was likely the best offer I would get. "All right, John, just to simplify this: I get room and board at your mansion, along with this apparent laboratory that you have. I also get complete control over lab equipment, choosing investors, hiring staff, the research I conduct, and a say in how the research is implemented. In exchange, you get to use my work however you want - I presume to save InGen's name. Does that sound right?"

"Yes, that's it." John smiled. "Do we have a deal?"

I shook his hand. "We do indeed, Mr. Hammond."


	4. Journey to the Island

_“There are horrors beyond life’s edge that we do not suspect, and once in a while man’s evil prying calls them just within our range.”_

_-H.P. Lovecraft_

**San Diego, California, United States, November 1993**

The lab in John Hammond's basement may have been a bit dark and confined, but it never failed to instill a sense of wonder in me. This was the place where John and Dr. Laura Sorkin had first put together the complete genome of a dinosaur, a triceratops to be specific. It was here that Jurassic Park finally stood a fighting chance of becoming a reality. 

And it was in this very room that I would officially begin my work on hybridization.

Well, not _officially_ , per se. Genetic modification generally went against the laws of Mother Nature and was therefore a controversial topic. I'd have to keep my project under wraps for the time being.

I had started off my new lab by hiring four people. It took some smooth-talking and promises of wealth and glory to get them to sign on to a secret research project with room and board but crappy pay.

First were Dr. Holly Bridges and her protégé graduate student Simon Curtis. I knew Holly from my days at Stanford University, and we had been mutually impressed with each other's talent. At the time I tracked her down, she had been teaching at UCLA for a couple of years and was looking for something different. Holly had a soft spot for Curtis, and she convinced me to let him join us. I saw some potential in his creativity and resourcefulness and signed him on.

The second was Dr. Alejandra Ortega, a recent graduate of Berkeley. She had worked in my lab on Isla Nublar for five months before the disaster and was eager to associate herself with the big names and trailblazing research of International Genetics, Inc.

Finally, there was the cynical old Dr. Oliver Link, once my professor at MIT. He lent an interesting (mostly sarcastic) perspective to our research and was the most pessimistic man I had ever encountered - and that included Ian Malcolm. Yet I still respected and admired his work in biology and offered to let him spend his last few years before retirement working for me. (Technically, I phrased it as working _with_ me. Most professors didn't enjoy being subordinates of their ex-students.)

"Dr. Wu, it looks like we have everything set up," Curtis said. "Is there anything else we need to do today?"

I checked my watch. It was 5:47 p.m. "No, that should be it for today, Curtis. You can all go now."

That was all the prompting Curtis needed. He ran out of the room, shouting "'Night, Dr. Wu!" behind him.

"What's his deal?" I wondered out loud.

"He's writing a science fiction novel as a side project," Holly explained. "I think he's been working on it since he was sixteen, and he really wants to get it published before he finishes grad school."

"He'll have a difficult time of that with all the work he has to do for school."

Holly shrugged. "True, but Simon has one hell of a work ethic. I bet you'll like working with him a lot."

I smiled. "I trust your judgment. Ready to go? We should be able to get straight to work tomorrow morning."

"Sounds good. When should I show up?"

"Eight a.m. will be fine."

"You might have trouble getting Dr. Link out of bed before nine a.m," she teased. I laughed. From the very first time I met him, Dr. Link was especially grumpy in the mornings and was more often than not a few minutes late to his first class of the day.

"Oh, before I forget, John wanted to talk to me at six. Tell Ortega and Link that we're done for the day and meeting here tomorrow at eight," I said. "Good night."

We saved goodbye and I walked up several flights of stairs to John's office. The mansion was more empty than one might expect; the financial troubles had forced John to let several of his employees go.

I knocked on the door. "Come in, Henry," John called.

I opened the door and came face-to-face with my worst enemy.

" _You_ ," Dr. Laura Sorkin and I hissed furiously.

"Why. Is. She. Here?!" I demanded, whirling on John.

"I would have said the same for you, except I remembered that you live to suck up to Johnny," Sorkin spat. 

"Now, now, enough fighting," John said, waving a hand at us. "Dr. Sorkin is here to help us conduct some research."

"You said I could hire my _own_ staff!" I cried in outrage. "I'm not letting Sorkin into my laboratory under any circumstances!"

"Technically, it's _my_ laboratory," Sorkin snapped. "I started my work for InGen in this very mansion, and I don't appreciate you coming in and taking it over!"

"Relax, both of you," John said. "Laura, the laboratory is in fact _mine_. Henry, Dr. Sorkin is simply here to help; she won't be bothering you. Now, I have some important-"

"Help?? She'll be sticking a needle of poison into my arm the first chance she gets!" I yelled, interrupting him. "You know how much we hate each other!"

"I understand that there are some hard feelings between you two-" John began, but he was cut off by Sorkin.

"He stole my job as chief geneticist!"

"She told the entire board of directors that my dinosaurs were flawed abominations!"

John sighed in exasperation, clearly fed up with us. "I would greatly appreciate it if you two would stop interrupting me and listen."

Sorkin and I held back from our argument but did not hold back from some truly nasty glares.

"We have an urgent situation on our hands at Isla Nublar." _Really? I had no idea._ "There's a hurricane rapidly approaching, poised to wipe out the island."

Sorkin and I froze, forgetting our silent exchange of dirty looks. 

" _Everything?_ " I ventured. "You're telling me that every single building on that island is going to be destroyed?"

John nodded solemnly. "We stand to lose an enormous amount of assets."

"Haven't you already lost an enormous amount of assets?" Sorkin pointed out. I hated to agree with her, but she was right. 

"We have," John said. "Which is why Henry's research is imperative to my company's future."

Everything started to click into place for me. "...I left quite a few of my research papers on Isla Nublar. It would be a huge help to me and my staff if I got them back..."

Sorkin caught on too. "You want us to go back to that godforsaken island with a massive hurricane on the way to pick up a few papers?!"

"Excuse me, but it's far more than 'a few papers,' it's-"

"Enough!" John said icily. "I order you two to stop fighting at once. That's not up for debate," he added, noting our displeased expressions. "I'm sending you both and your staff to Isla Nublar to collect all of your research and any other belongings you may require."

"W-wait a minute," I stammered. "C-can't you send someone else to get it?"

"I'd prefer that you do it; you know what you're looking for and where to find it. Why?"

"I-I just don't like the idea of being on that island," I admitted, looking down at my shoes. 

"I realize that Henry, but you and Laura are the best people to do what's needed," said John. "And I want you to take along your employees - Link, Bridges, Ortega, and Curtis. Laura, you bring Banks."

"Why?"

"You'll probably want a group of more people, for practical reasons," he said, though he didn't specify what those reasons were. "I'm also sending a group of a dozen workmen with you to help move things off the island. They have a list of what I want, so they won't need much help from you."

"Will they need us to be their guides?" asked Sorkin.

"No, they've all worked at the park before. Oh, and the Costa Rican government has insisted on sending at least one of their own officials with you and your group to ensure that nothing illegal is going on," he grumbled bitterly. "Hurricane Clarissa is going to make landfall in ten days. I want you out in five at the most."

"When are we leaving?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"Fine, I'll go, but it's your problem to explain to my staff why they're going on a dangerous trip to Dino Central," I told John. "Can you guarantee our safety?"

"Yes. The lysine contingency will have kicked in by now, so the dinosaurs should all be dead."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sorkin flinch and avert her eyes at the mention of the contingency. I remembered how opposed she had been to it, thinking that it was cruel and unnecessary.

"Well," I sighed. "I guess I'm going back to Jurassic Park."

* * *

**San José, Costa Rica, November 1993**

I had hidden my fear well, but the thought of returning to Nublar terrified me. It was the place where my dreams had been crushed and where my friends had died. 

Rationally, I knew that I had to put on a brave face. Not only was my research more important, but revealing my fright would only worry my staff and give Sorkin an excuse to make fun of me.

 _Research, research, research, research,_ I reminded myself as we walked out of the Juan Santamaría International Airport into Costa Rica's warm air. _Research, fame, glory, science, InGen_...

"Follow me," said Ortega. "I just spoke with the clerk; he told me where our helipad is."

"So we're taking a chopper to Isla Nublar?" Holly asked. "Yeah. It'll be a pretty long ride, but the government wants an official to go with us."

"Right. Because of the... _dinosaurs_ ," she said. John had already briefed her, Curtis, and Link on InGen's operations on the island. (I hadn't been present to see their reactions, but I would have paid a lot to see Link's.)

"This heat is driving me crazy," Dr. Link muttered, wiping his brow. "Let's just get this whole mission over with as soon as possible, all right?"

"Believe me, I feel the same way," I assured him. _Though for reasons other than the weather._

Once we got to the helipad, it was quite obvious which helicopter was ours. Out of the three present, only one was brightly painted as belonging to the government. A tall police officer was waiting by the door.

" _Hola,_ " Ortega approached him. " _¿Es usted el señor Contreras?_ "

"Yes, that's me," he responded in accented English. "I work for the San José police force. I've been assigned to watch you guys on your expedition to Isla Nublar. You're retrieving some important documents and company assets, is that correct?"

"Yes," said Ortega.

"Which one of you is in charge?" Contreras asked.

"That would be me," I said, stepping forward before Sorkin could say anything. "Dr. Henry Wu, nice to meet you." I held out my hand, but Contreras just nodded.

"All right, let's go," he said. "I'm flying the helicopter over to the island. Get in. Your workers are coming over on a ship; they should be arriving at about the same time as us."

We climbed into the helicopter. The seats were a tight fit, but we all managed to squeeze in.

"So what are you looking for on the island?" Contreras asked me.

"Papers detailing scientific research," I said, giving him the vaguest possible answer. 

"What kind of research? There have been some crazy rumors over here on the mainland."

"Rumors?"

"Rumors that you guys are cloning dinosaurs." He saw the shocked look on my face but misinterpreted it. "Ridiculous, right? My sister told me that a few years back, her town was whispering about two men who got killed by velociraptors while working on the Muertes archipelago. _Locos_ ," he scoffed. "It's a shame that they didn't let someone investigate, though. Something's definitely going on there," he said with a suspicious glance at me.

 _Contreras is going to be in for one hell of a surprise when he sees the dead dinosaurs_ , I thought. 

Just then, the radio crackled. The cop reached over and picked it up, saying something in Spanish to the person on the other end. I wasn't able to understand a lot of it, but I did pick out the word _huracán_. Hurricane.

"I just got a call from San José. The hurricane's picked up speed and ferocity, which means that we'll have to leave the island sooner than we thought."

"How much sooner?" I asked.

"You said you had five days, right? Well, I'd say that now you have two or three. You'd better hope that your workmen are fast."

* * *

**Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, November 1993**

The rest of the helicopter ride was mostly silent. Contreras pestered us a few times for more information on the park, but we all remained tight-lipped, aggravating him.

As the helicopter soared towards Isla Nublar, I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This was the place where Ray and Robert had experienced their last, painful moments. I didn't know where they had died, but with the raptors, I doubted that there would be much left of their bodies. 

"Where's the helipad?" Contreras asked.

"There's one on the east dock. I'd advise landing there since that's where the ship is, but be warned that the air can get really choppy," said Ortega.

"The helipad right over there? I see it. Don't throw up," he warned Banks, who was looking rather green from the rough air on the way over.

Contreras carefully brought the chopper down onto the landing pad. It shook and bumped a few times but was otherwise stable. I was impressed with his piloting skills; most of the helicopter rides that I had taken on and off the island felt like the pilot was still in his first week of flying school. (Maybe that was because John's spare-no-expense policy applied more to his dinosaurs than anything else, as Dennis Nedry had often whined about.)

We climbed out of the helicopter, grabbing our backpacks and breathing in the sticky, humid air. On the other end of the dock, the small figures of workers were deboarding a durable, utilitarian boat. They unloaded a jeep and a couple of carts, and various types of moving equipment. 

"All right, Dr. Wu, let's head down to your main building," Contreras said. He seemed excited, probably because he thought he was about to uncover something big and wicked about International Genetics, Inc. 

I turned to the rest of the team. "Sorkin, Ortega, you take everybody up to the visitors' center in one of the jeeps. I'll catch up with you later, I need to talk to Officer Contreras about something."

They gave me puzzled looks but began to head towards the boat. 

"Hold on!" Contreras said sharply. "I can't let them leave without supervision."

"It'll be _fine_ ," I insisted.

Contreras thought about it for a moment, clenching his jaw. "Okay, you can go," he finally relented. "But DON'T try anything funny."

"What does he think we're going to try?" I heard Link mutter as they left. "Hey, wait!" he called. "There aren't enough seats in the jeep for all of us."

"You." Contreras pointed at Sorkin. "You stay behind with me and Dr. Wu." We opened our mouths to protest, but the cop cowed us both with a glare. He turned to me. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I'm sure you know that there have been a few deaths on the island..." I said uncomfortably. 

"Yeah. What about it?"

"We think that one of them happened within a few hundred yards of the east dock. John - Mr. John Hammond, that is - wants us to find all the remains we can to send back to the families for burial." If it were up to me, Nedry would rot in the mud, but I did genuinely care about finding Ray and Robert, and maybe Gennaro.

Contreras nodded. "Let's find him then."

"He took a jeep, didn't he? Then if we find one of the jeeps around here, we find Nedry," Sorkin concluded.

Holding up a flashlight, Contreras kicked down part of the five-foot fence in between the road and the trees, and we crept into the jungle.

It was already evening, and the light was rapidly fading. The jungle was eerily shadowed, and every rustle sounded like a velociraptor's growl or a tyrannosaur's stomping. Sorkin kept jerking her head around anxiously, and even Contreras looked a bit uneasy.

Within fifteen or twenty minutes, we found the jeep resting precariously on a steep hillside that would probably become a muddy waterfall once the rains started. Contreras shone his flashlight on the car, revealing two shattered windows and slightly scraped paint reading _JURASSIC PARK_.

"He should be somewhere around here," I said, swallowing the lump of fear in my throat.

Seeing that Sorkin and I were too scared to step forward, Contreras rolled his eyes and climbed up the hillside to the jeep. After a few long seconds, I forced myself to follow him.

Sorkin and I stumbled up the slope to the police officer, who was standing by the driver's window, shining his flashlight down into the vehicle. "Found him," he said grimly.

A choked noise came from Sorkin's throat, and my heart pounded.

"You can look," Contreras said, gesturing for us to come forward. "It's not gruesome or anything; he's just a pile of bones."

Forcing back nausea, I walked the rest of the way up the hillside and looked into the jeep.

There, illuminated unnaturally by the flashlight's beam, was most of Dennis Nedry's skeleton. 

Unprepared for the sight, I gasped and stumbled backward. Contreras grabbed my arm before I went tumbling down the hill. "What should we do with _señor_ Nedry?"

"Take him back, I suppose," Sorkin shrugged, still looking pale and scared. "There might be something in the jeep that we can use to transport him..." She opened the trunk and dug around inside.

Contreras opened the door, catching the bones of Nedry's head as they fell out. "Hmm," he frowned. "Look at the skull."

He was pointing to two rows of teeth marks in the shape of a bite on the back of the head. "This would be what killed him. It's odd for a jaguar bite."

"A jaguar bite?"

"Jaguars bite their prey on the back of the head between the ears to kill it. It's a very strong, effective weapon," Contreras explained. "This looks like much the same thing, except there are a few things wrong. For one, the arc of the teeth is too long. A jaguar's jawbone is smaller. The shape of the teeth is wrong as well. The teeth of jaguars come in different shapes and sizes, but these are all uniform in size and shape. Now I sound like a nerdy biology professor, but you get it."

I nodded. I wasn't completely familiar with the jawbone of a dilophosaurus, but from what I remembered, it matched up with the marks on Nedry's head.

"I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of this bite," Contreras was muttering to himself. "I've seen jaguar wounds in the hospital before, and they're not fun at all."

"I think I have something," Sorkin said, holding up a waterproof duffel bag. "It's not the most respectful way to carry him, but it's the best we've got."

"Then we'll make do with it," I said. Contreras gave the skull once last perplexed glance before placing it delicately in the bag.

We moved the rest of Nedry's bones into the duffel bag. I looked up at the dark sky. "Let's get out of here. I don't want to get lost in the jungle at night."

Contreras and Sorkin were in agreement. The jeep was in too poor shape to drive, and besides, there were stains inside that looked like blood. We'd have to walk back to the dock.

All of a sudden, there was a soft, hooting cry from somewhere in the maze of trees and vines. 

Sorkin and I froze, knowing exactly what it was. Curiously, Contreras swung his flashlight around, and the light swung onto a dilophosaurus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that November seems a bit late for a hurricane, but Costa Rica's hurricane season is June 1st to November 30th. 
> 
> The character of Antonio Contreras belongs to @Sassy_Lil_Scorpio, who has generously allowed me to use him in my story.


	5. A Walk In The Park

_"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."_

_-Charles Darwin_

**Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, November 1993**

I whimpered pathetically, as did Sorkin. Contreras squinted and leaned forward a little, trying to get a better view of the animal.

The dilophosaur was crouched in the tall grass about fifty feet away. The flashlight illuminated its face only halfway, highlighting the unnatural, reptilian angles of its shape. 

"What the hell is that thing?" Contreras whispered in Spanish.

"That's what killed Nedry," I responded hoarsely in English. "It's a dinosaur."

It should have been impossible. The lysine contingency should have killed it by now. But there wasn't time to figure that out right now. We had to go. 

"You're fucking kidding me," Contreras said.

"He's not!" Sorkin said. "We need to get out of here now!"

"Just a minute here, I want a damn good explanation for why there are fucking _dinosaurs_ on this island!" he argued back. 

"And you'll get one, but right now, we need to _leave_! Do you want to end up like Nedry?!"

I grabbed the cop's arm to pull him away, but he angrily shook me off and opened his mouth to yell something to Sorkin. He was interrupted by a loud rustling from behind us.

The dilophosaurus had stood up, rising to its full height of ten feet. It looked terrifying in the weak light of the flashlight beam, like some otherworldly monster approaching from a mere fifteen meters off. It made a jerking motion with its head, and I felt a glob of wet, black saliva land on my shirt. 

It had spit on me. With poison aimed for my eyes.

"GO, GO, GO! OUT OF HERE, NOW!" I screamed, bolting in the opposite direction of the dinosaur. Contreras and Sorkin were right behind me, crashing through the bushes.

"Turn the light off; it keeps the dinosaur interested!" Sorkin gasped as she almost tripped over a stone.

"We need to be able to see!" 

" _Just turn the damn thing off!_ "

" _Don't tell me what to do!_ "

"WILL BOTH OF YOU JUST STOP ARGUING AND TURN IT OFF SO WE DON'T GET EATEN?!" I yelled. (In the back of my mind, I realized that I was a bit of a hypocrite for criticizing Contreras for arguing with Sorkin, but now wasn't the time for introspection.)

Contreras glowered at me, but shut off the flashlight. We were plunged into darkness as we bolted through the jungle, making the chase all the more terrifying. 

"We need to get back to the docks!" said Sorkin.

"One problem with that idea - where _are_ the docks?" Contreras had a good point; in our haste to get away from the dilophosaurus, we had completely forgotten in which direction we were running. We could be fleeing farther into the jungle for all I knew.

By some miracle of luck, we suddenly burst out onto a road. I didn't recognize it in the dark, but I could pick out recent tire tracks on it.

"Look at the tracks. Someone came down the road recently!" I said, pointing down. 

"We'll follow them; they'll lead us either to the docks or the visitors' center," said Contreras, dragging us off to the left.

There were a few loud thumps behind us. Ten or fifteen yards away, a tall black shadow emerged from the trees. It was the dilophosaurus.

We all halted. 

There was a quiet click, and I realized that Contreras had pulled out his shotgun. I doubted it would do much good, but it was better than nothing.

" _What are you waiting for?!_ " Sorkin seethed. " _Just kill it!_ "

"I need it to come closer first!" Contreras hissed back at her.

With a low, menacing trill, the dilophosaur took several strides forward. Contreras fired off a shot. He only missed by an inch or two, but the loud bang from the gun was enough to scare the dinosaur. It took a few hesitant steps backward.

Squinting, the cop aimed again. There was another _bang_ , and the dilophosaur shrieked and stumbled. It had been hit in the stomach.

The injury wasn't enough to kill it, but it was enough to slow the animal down and give us time to run away. We sprinted down the road, slipping a little in the mud.

Luckily, we had gone in the right direction, and we soon caught sight of the dock. The workers had already left in a truck, but they had left a jeep behind. 

"Let's go down to the visitors' center and meet up with everybody else!" Sorkin said, jumping into the car. Contreras and I slid into the backseat. The scientist slammed her foot down on the gas pedal and we shot off.

Contreras turned around in his seat and started digging around in the trunk.

"What are you doing?"

"Maybe someone left something useful in here, like a weapon."

As Contreras rummaged through the random equipment, I noticed that Sorkin had taken a turn onto a tour road. "Where are you going?"

"I'm taking a route away from our friendly neighborhood poison-spitting carnivore."

"Good idea." (That shows you just how unusual and terrifying the situation was: I said something approving to Sorkin and she didn't make fun of me for it.)

"Here we go!" Contreras triumphantly pulled a taser rod out. "Not ideal, but it'll work okay."

"There should be some weapons in the visitors' center garage," I said. "Heavy-duty stuff; you'll like it."

"Good," Contreras said. "But will it be locked up?"

"Probably not, since the power is out. But just in case, I brought my old security card."

"Make sure not to lose it. And now-" Contreras leaned towards me menacingly. "Explain why there are dinosaurs on this island."

* * *

Contreras was of the firmly held opinion that what I told him about the island on the way to the visitors' center was not the full story. He was right, of course, but I wasn't about to tell him about our more secret operations and he couldn't prove anything.

"...so the lysine contingency _should_ have killed off all the dinosaurs within a day, but something went wrong with it," I concluded.

"Any idea what got screwed up?"

"Nothing," I shrugged helplessly. "I want to figure it out before we leave the island."

"I want to kill off every single goddamn man-eating monster here before we leave the island. Let's hope your friends left some good weapons behind." He turned to Sorkin. "When will we be there?"

"We passed the main gate a couple of minutes ago, so..." Sorkin pointed at the roof of the center, rising above some shadowy trees. "Right there."

The jeep stopped in front of the main entrance and we jumped out, hurrying up to the enormous building. The doors were already open a crack from the other group's entrance.

The cavernous lobby was empty and melancholy. I noticed that the centerpiece of the room, the tyrannosaur skeleton, had collapsed. The ground was covered in mold and dead plants. There were a few footprints in the dirt and dust, presumably belonging to my scientists.

"Dr. Sorkin, you find everybody else. Dr. Wu, you're coming with me down to the garage," Contreras commanded. "We'll meet back here in fifteen minutes."

The police officer turned his flashlight back on and I led him down a dark staircase to the garage. The heavy door was closed but unlocked, and I pushed it open to reveal a jeep, some miscellaneous maintenance equipment, a couple of tour cars, and a wall lined with Robert's choice of weapons - from taser rods to nets to machine guns. 

Contreras' eyes lit up at the sight of it. His excitement upon seeing heavy weaponry was frightening, and I wanted to get my research, so I told him that I was leaving to grab my research papers from my office. 

"That's fine. Just do it quickly and meet me back in the lobby," he said, distracted by the wide array of rifles. "Oh, and take this," he said, handing me a shotgun. "In case there are any more nasty surprises lurking around."

"I don't think that any dinosaurs can get into the center."

"You also didn't think that any dinosaurs were still alive, smart guy."

He was right, so I just gave him an irritated look and took the gun.

I walked upstairs, trying not to trip in the dark. Walking back through the lobby and down a few more hallways, I kept an ear out for the rest of the group. Everything was completely silent.

 _Good_ , I thought. I wanted them to be safe, but my office had some very sensitive papers that I couldn't let anyone else see.

Just like the garage, my office was unlocked. Dirty, abandoned, and covered in old leaves, but empty and unlocked.

Fortunately, it appeared that no one had stepped foot in here in months. I crouched down under my old desk and pulled out a small safe. 

Typing in the code, I opened it to reveal a suitcase containing a stack of papers, notebooks, and flash drives, unremarkable in appearance but vital to my projects. Grabbing the case, I left my office and went back to the lobby.

Sorkin was there with my group of scientists. They were talking in quiet, panicked voices. I figured that Sorkin was probably regaling them with the tale of our dramatic escape and the disturbing news of live dinosaurs.

But wait...there were only five people. There should have been six.

I ran over and saw that not only was Dr. Link gone, but the expressions of my staff were shaken and terrified.

"What's going on here?" I asked, even as my brain was slowly starting to put it together.

"D-Dr. Link was taken by a d-dinosaur!" Curtis stammered. Banks looked like he had just thrown up.

"WHAT?!"

"They've been telling me what happened," Sorkin explained hurriedly. "Apparently when they got here, they went over to Ortega's office to get some of her stuff. Link left the room for a moment, and a minute later, they heard a loud thump and ran out. Link was gone, but they heard some kind of chittering and footsteps scurrying away. Nobody wanted to go after him because it was pitch black and they didn't know exactly what it was."

I thought I would react the same way I had when Ray and Robert died, but I just felt numb and angry. _Another person lost to John Hammond's ridiculous plans._ "We should go after him. Contreras and I found Robert Muldoon's weapons stash, so we'll be armed."

"Go after who?" It was Contreras, returning from the garage. He had found the biggest rifle in the place and strapped a machete to his belt. 

Sorkin gave Contreras the rundown of how Link had disappeared. "Good thing nobody ran after him," he said. "I doubt that would have ended well."

"Well, now we're running after him," Ortega said firmly. 

"I _really_ don't think that's a good idea!" said Bridges.

"We've got no choice; he might still be alive-"

The lobby exploded into a cacophony of yelling. I was unsurprised that their anger and fear were running high right now, but the yelling was getting them nowhere.

"ENOUGH!" Contreras yelled at the top of his lungs. "All of you, shut up! We have to find one of your teammates and you're all acting like little kids! Listen up: we're going down to the garage to get some weapons and flashlights. Whatever took Dr. Link could still be hanging around here, and I don't want anybody getting killed by a giant lizard. Let's go."

"But it's _dangerous!_ " Bridges complained. "We could get-"

"And that's why I said we're bringing weapons. Now let's GO!" Contreras snapped. "Cut the whiny crap and follow me!"

We all went back down to the garage, grabbing a couple of guns and knives each. Contreras insisted that we all have at least two weapons and that if we see a dinosaur, we kill it. (Robert probably would have approved of the anti-dinosaur sentiment.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Having a flash drive in 1993 would have been impossible, but so would bringing dinosaurs back from extinction.


	6. The Saboteur

_ "All they did was trade one monster for another. Instead of a dragon they now have a snake. A giant snake that sleeps in the narrows and bides its time until the moment is right and it can open its jaws and swallow someone down."  
-John Kinsey,  _ Los Angeles Times, _1956_

**Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, November 1993**

We were all in agreement that the best way to find Dr. Link was to divide and conquer. Contreras took Sorkin and Banks with him off in the direction in which Link disappeared. Dr. Bridges and her student Curtis went towards the cafe. Dr. Ortega and I started towards the medical bay. All of us were equipped with flashlights, tranquilizers, and other various weapons in case we got jumped by a dinosaur.

The hallways of the center were dark and silent in a way that was reminiscent of a horror movie. Ortega and I swung our flashlights around, looking for any sign of Link. But the center was a big place, and there weren't very many of us to find my old professor. 

We had only been walking around in silence for ten or fifteen minutes when we heard the soft sound of footsteps. A soft clicking tap accompanied each step, like...like...a velociraptor's sickle claw.

The realization hit Ortega and me at the same time. Trembling in fear, we turned around.

Standing ten yards down the hallway was a full-grown velociraptor. It snarled and crouched down like it was about to pounce.

"RUN!" Ortega yelled. 

I didn't need to be told twice. We bolted down the hallway, and the raptor ran after us.

Ortega screamed as the raptor pounced on her. I grabbed my gun and fired it, hitting the raptor square in the neck with two bullets. It threw back its head, wailing, and I grabbed Ortega by the arms and dragged her away into a random room.

I shut the door and locked it, shaking with horror. Ortega lay on the floor, groaning and pressing a hand down on her stomach. The velociraptor had clawed her across the belly, almost disemboweling her. I ran over to the scientist to help her tie part of her jacket around the wound, tossing aside my suitcase full of papers.

"Are you all right?!" I asked, even though it was a pretty futile question. Even in the dim light of my flashlight, I could see that she was looking horribly pale and sick.

"Last t-time I ever do what H-Hammond tells me too," she gasped, putting pressure on the slash with her hand and balled-up jacket.

"Don't worry; you're going to be fine," I assured her. We both knew I was lying; it was highly unlikely that she would make a full recovery from this injury.

Ortega opened her mouth, probably to tell me off about lying to her face, but the radio crackled and we heard Contreras' voice.

"Sorkin--with the raptors--out of here!--help--" The radio glitched, turning on and off before finally going silent. 

I exchanged a terrified look with Ortega. Contreras, Sorkin, and Banks had probably run into the rest of the pack of raptors. 

"Go f-find everybody else and get me s-some medical s-supplies," Ortega said weakly, pushing me towards the door. 

"But-"

"Do you w-want all of us to g-get out of here alive?! Now g-go!"

Ordinarily, I would have protested at somebody ordering me around, but now wasn't the time. I had to make sure that nobody else fell victim to John's vicious raptors.

Quietly pushing open the door with a gun in hand, I peeked my head around the corner. The velociraptor that I had shot was whining pathetically on the floor, clearly in its last moments.

Gathering what little courage I had, I walked down the maze of hallways, fumbling around for something useful.

 _Do it for Robert and Ray. They would want you to be out here saving people instead of cowering in a locked room,_ I reminded myself.

I found myself in a large, empty room. It appeared to be a garage, judging from the large open doors leading out to a dirt road. The concrete and metal walls were covered in dents and scrapes, and there was even a large hole in the wall. It seemed that some triceratops or stegosaurs had been battling it out in here. 

I heard the sound of rushing water and looked out through the hole to see one of the manmade underground channels rushing violently sixty feet down. It was probably there to help divert water into a more aesthetically pleasing location or to make way for a construction project.

Suddenly, there was a loud gunshot, and I felt a searing pain in my left calf. Something slammed into me, and I cried out as I fell out of the enormous hole in the wall. Grabbing the ledge, I just managed to keep myself from falling into the black water below. 

"Well, I was _hoping_ that you'd get yourself killed by that raptor, but this is more enjoyable."

I looked up, realizing with horror that the source of the voice was Dr. Laura Sorkin. 

She stared down at me apathetically, shining a flashlight down with one hand and holding a shotgun with the other. 

I snarled at her through the pain in my leg and the strain of holding onto the ledge. " _Sorkin, you evil little-_ "

"Watch your language, Henry, or do I have to shut your filthy mouth myself?" she smirked, pointing the gun at my face. 

"What do you want from me?!" I demanded.

"A lot of things, starting with your research papers. But mostly, I want to hear you screaming and crying like a baby as you fall to your watery grave," Sorkin said with a sadistic smile. Oh no. I could _not_ let her kill me, let alone get ahold of my research!

"I swear to whatever deity a homicidal nutjob like you might worship, I will have Contreras arrest you and throw you into the most desolate cell in Costa Rica!" I threatened.

The scientist just threw back her head and cackled. "Oh, Contreras isn't going to be a concern anymore!"

My stomach sank. "What did you do to him, Sorkin??"

"Well, let's see..." she said with fake thoughtfulness. "Banks and I lured him into the raptor nest in Hammond's old office. Then I shot him in the leg, learned some very creative Spanish profanities, left to find you, and instructed Banks to lock the door and make sure he doesn't escape."

"You're a sick, twisted, diabolical monster!" I spat. "Keep your murdering hands off of my research!"

"Yes, yes, Henry dear, I've heard it all before. And now, to ensure you won't be a thorn in my side any longer..."

Sorkin stomped on my hand. Hard. I gasped in pain and terror as my hand slipped off the ledge, leaving just five fingers desperately clinging on.

Sorkin tilted her head a little, grinning like a maniacal serial killer. It sickened me to realize that she was enjoying this, dragging out my torture as long as possible.

"You know, Sorkin, for somebody supposedly so smart, it surprises me that it took so long for you to get your payback," I taunted her. The least I could do before my untimely death was to get under her skin as much as possible. Neither would I give her the satisfaction of screaming. "Shameful, I must say; I expected better from an evil 'genius.'"

Sorkin growled, and I saw that I was greatly irritating her. 

"Just admit it, Laura," I continued. "I'm smarter and more talented than you, and no matter how painfully you kill me, you'll never be able to scratch that itch. You'll never be able to get over the fact that John Hammond and the board of directors chose _me_ over you because my idea was cleverer. You can't handle that you'll never be able to justifiably look down on me, because I was better than you then, and I'm _always_ going to be better than you!-"

That was it. Sorkin slammed her foot down on my other hand, sending me tumbling into the river below.

* * *

The river was colder than one would have expected on a tropical island. But that wasn't my main concern right now. 

The rushing water tugged on me, trying to pull me down into the depths as Sorkin wished. It felt like the currents had claws, grabbing me and tossing me around in the torrents.

The claws slammed me up against one of the concrete walls, forcing the air out of my lungs before pulling me down into the waves. I kicked as frantically as my wounded leg would allow, surfacing and trying to take a deep breath.

I tried to find some kind of handhold, but my badly injured leg and aching hands made it difficult enough to tread water, let alone find safety. My odds weren't looking good.

The tunnel had to end eventually, but the question was, would it sweep me up onto land or out to sea? As I forced my head up to take a gasping breath of air, I noticed that the current was getting slower. That usually meant that the water was getting deeper. 

Mercifully, the river suddenly slowed and opened up. Weakly lifting my head, I saw stars flickering in the night sky and almost started sobbing with relief. 

The river had swept me out to the lake, about a fifth of a mile from the visitor's center. There were a couple of boat sheds lining the shores that would have some emergency equipment. If I could just make it to shore...

My head spun dizzily, and it took every bit of will I had to keep my waterlogged limbs moving. Feebly, I swam forward a little, looking around for the closest route to land. _Come on, Henry, man up and keep moving. You have to get to shore. You have to stop Sorkin and Banks. You have to try and save Ortega. You have to stay alive for all the dead people. Robert, Ray, Gennaro, Jophery, Link, Contreras..._

A few minutes later, I managed to pull myself onto the muddy banks of the lake, gasping. The moment my body touched the somewhat dry land, I starting vomiting and coughing up water. 

I collapsed down onto the dirt, still dry-heaving a little. I lay there for several minutes with one side of my face in the mud. The whole ordeal from the moment Sorkin had sent me tumbling into the tunnel until I dragged myself to safety felt like an eternity, though it had probably lasted no more than five or ten minutes.

It occurred to me that there was literally no good reason that I should be alive right now. I had just been shot and thrown into a raging river. _How in the world am I still breathing? Life finds a way, I guess,_ I thought, sardonically quoting Ian Malcolm. 

I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep right here and never wake up, but the boatshed was only a few yards away, and with it was a semblance of security along with shelter from the rain that had just started to drizzle down.

Flinching with every movement, I shakily stood up. The searing pain in my leg and the heavy ache in my arms made hobbling over to the shed an unpleasant experience, but I managed it. Flopping down on the cold floor, I thought about finding a radio, but I didn't have enough energy left in me to both do that and find some medical supplies for my gunshot wound.

"Praise God for Robert's safety precautions," I whispered, pulling a small medical kit off of the wall and opening it up. There was a teeny flashlight inside that shone just brightly enough that I could see properly.

There was a small bottle of disinfectant, some of which I poured onto my injury, as I highly doubted that the water of the lake and river was clean. I whimpered at the sting but proceeded with the process, wrapping gauze tightly around my leg. Luckily there were two holes in me; that meant that the bullet had passed through and was no longer in my body.

I had no idea if I was cleaning the wound correctly, but it was better than nothing. Downing a few painkillers and antibiotics that were also in the kit, I fell asleep almost immediately on the floor of the boatshed, listening to the rain pattering on the roof.


End file.
